diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 029604d6..f6b427da 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ on:
   pull_request:
 
 jobs:
-  lint:
+  test:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     if: "!contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[skip ci]')"
     steps:
@@ -19,21 +19,12 @@ jobs:
           node-version: 14.x
           cache: yarn
       - run: yarn install --frozen-lockfile
+      - run: yarn build
+        env:
+          NODE_ENV: production
+          SKIP_OPTIMIZE_IMAGES: true
       - run: yarn lint
-
-  snapshot:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: "github.actor == 'jakejarvis' && !contains(github.event.head_commit.message, '[skip ci]')"
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 1
-      - uses: actions/setup-node@v2
-        with:
-          node-version: 14.x
-          cache: yarn
-      - run: yarn install --frozen-lockfile
-      - run: NODE_ENV=production yarn build
       - run: npx -p @percy/cli percy snapshot ./public
+        if: github.actor == 'jakejarvis'
         env:
           PERCY_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.PERCY_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/post-deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/post-deploy.yml
index b0c02bb3..484839b8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/post-deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/post-deploy.yml
@@ -6,18 +6,13 @@ jobs:
   release:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     if: github.event.deployment_status.state == 'success'
-    env:
-      LHCI_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.LHCI_TOKEN }}
-      LHCI_GITHUB_APP_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.LHCI_GITHUB_APP_TOKEN }}
-      LHCI_SERVER_BASE_URL: https://lhci.jrvs.io
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
         with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-depth: 10
       - uses: actions/setup-node@v2
         with:
           node-version: 14.x
-      - run: yarn install --frozen-lockfile
       - uses: getsentry/action-release@v1
         if: github.event.deployment_status.environment == 'production'
         env:
@@ -33,7 +28,7 @@ jobs:
       - run: |
           chrome --version
           lhci --version
-          curl $LHCI_SERVER_BASE_URL/version
+          curl https://lhci.jrvs.io/version || true
           echo "ref: ${{ github.event.deployment.ref }}"
           echo "env: ${{ github.event.deployment_status.environment }}"
           echo "url: ${{ github.event.deployment_status.target_url }}"
@@ -48,6 +43,9 @@ jobs:
           echo "LHCI_EXTRA_FLAGS=--assert.assertions.is-crawlable=off --assert.assertions.canonical=off" >> $GITHUB_ENV
           echo "LHCI_BUILD_CONTEXT__CURRENT_BRANCH=${{ github.event.deployment.ref }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
       - continue-on-error: true
+        env:
+          LHCI_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.LHCI_TOKEN }}
+          LHCI_GITHUB_APP_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.LHCI_GITHUB_APP_TOKEN }}
         run: |
           lhci autorun ${{ env.LHCI_EXTRA_FLAGS }} \
             --collect.url=${{ env.BASE_DEPLOY_URL }}/ \
diff --git a/gulpfile.js b/gulpfile.js
index d121a766..9ba4e30b 100644
--- a/gulpfile.js
+++ b/gulpfile.js
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ function optimizeHtml() {
 }
 
 function optimizeImages() {
+  // allow skipping this step via an env variable to save time during CI, etc.
+  if (process.env.SKIP_OPTIMIZE_IMAGES === "true") return Promise.resolve("skipped");
+
   return gulp
     .src(["public/**/*.{gif,jpg,jpeg,png,svg}", "!public/assets/emoji/**/*"], { base: "./" })
     .pipe(